Entries tagged with: Bilal

Ghostface Killah is having quite the prolific year. He already released a collaborative album with BADBADNOTGOOD, and this Friday (7/10) he releases a collaborative album with Adrian Younge, Twelve Reasons to Die II. (It's the followup/sequel to 2013's Twelve Reasons to Die.) The album features Ghostface's fellow Wu-Tang Clan members Raekwon and RZA, neo-soul singer Bilal, the quickly-rising Vince Staples and more. You can stream the whole thing over at the NY Times. The song with Vince is also streaming below.

Ghostface isn't the only Wu-Tang member working with interesting collaborators lately. Inspectah Deck's collaborative project with underground Boston duo 7L & Esoteric, aka Czarface, released their second album this past June. It's called Every Hero Needs a Villain and features Wu-Tang pals Method Man and GZA, plus DOOM (who's also on the Ghostface/Badbadnotgood LP), Large Professor, R.A. the Rugged Man and Juju of The Beatnuts. It follows their 2013 self-titled debut, and to quote HipHopDx, it's "one of the rare sequels that matches the original in quality." You can listen to an Rdio stream of the whole album, and a Soundcloud stream of the DOOM-featuring single "Ka-Bang!" below.

Ghostface and Raekwon are kicking off a tour this week, in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Rae's immortal Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. That hits NYC on July 20 & 21 at Irving Plaza. Tickets for both are still available. Ghost is also playing Slipknot's festival, and Wu-Tang are playing Riot Fest Toronto and Austin's Fun Fun Fun Fest.

Ever find your life lacking substantial entertainment? Well, if so, it's a good thing our pals at Fox News exist to flip that occasional boredom on its head. They've long been so very adept at analyzing the social correlates of hip hop, and their recent The Five panel reportage re: Kendrick Lamar doesn't disappoint (read: greatly disappoints).

As you may have seen, Kendrick opened the BET Awards this year with a raw, honest performance of "Alright" atop a vandalized police car, rapping "We hate po-po / Wanna kill us dead in the street fo sho" with a huge American flag snapping behind him. Of course, Fox had something to say (and to keep your head shaking, they only subtitled certain lyrics to change the song meaning).

"Ugh, I don't like it... Personally, it doesn't excite me, it doesn't turn me on, it doesn't interest me, I'm not feelin' it" was the genius insight we got from Kimberly Guilfoyle. And then, from Geraldo Rivera:

It's not helpful at all. This is why I say hip-hop has done more damage to African-Americans than racism in recent years. This is exactly the wrong message. And then to conflate what happened in the church in Charleston, South Carolina with these tragic incidents involving excessive use of force by cops is to equate that racist killer with these cops - it is so wrong, it is so counterproductive, it gives exactly the wrong the message.

Obviously.

Kendrick appeared on TMZ Live today with an elegant response to Rivera's comments (via HipHopDX):

This is our music. This is us expressing ourselves. Rather [than] going out here and doing the murders myself, I want to express myself in a positive light the same way other artists are doing. Not going out in the streets, go in the booth and talking about the situation and hoping these kids can find some type of influence on it in a positive manner. Coming from these streets and coming from these neighborhoods, we're taking our talents and putting 'em inside the studio.

He also added that Rivera took the "we hate po-po" line out of context and said, "you can't dilute the message." If you haven't seen it yet, you can watch that Fox News clip below.

In other Kendrick news, the video for his Bilal collab, "Money Over Love" recently premiered. It's one of the singles off Bilal's fifth studio album, In Another Life, which Bilal has been on tour supporting. He hit NYC last night (7/1), with a show at Highline Ballroom (pictured above). Were you there? How was it?

Check out the "Money Over Love" video, and that Fox News segment, below...

Philly neo-soul singer Bilal is releasing the followup to 2013's A Love Surreal next week (6/30) with In Another Life via eOne/Purpose Music Group. The record was produced by the great Adrian Younge (who also has a new album with Ghostface Killah on the way), and it features Kendrick Lamar, Big K.R.I.T. and Kimbra. You can listen to the Kendrick and K.R.I.T. collabs and a third album track below, and stream the whole LP via Pandora.

Bilal is also touring in support of the album. He kicks off in his hometown on release day, and the next night he'll be in NYC for a show on July 1 at Highline Ballroom. Adrian Younge will be on hand to DJ that show. Tickets are on sale now.

Tickets for the recently added Clap Your Hands Say Yeah show at Bowery Ballroom with Teen Men go on sale today at noon. Tickets for night 1 are still available. These shows will have them playing their self-titled debut LP in full.

Tickets for the Two-9 show at Gramercy Theatre with Bitches Is Crazy (BIC), HD Been Dope and Depo go on sale today at noon.

Earlier this month, Kendrick Lamar took us by surprise when he revealed that his highly-anticipated followup to good kid, m.A.A.d city would be out in less than three weeks (3/23), but it turns out he's surprised us once again: It's out now!

The album's called To Pimp A Butterfly and it features contributions from George Clinton, Thundercat, Snoop Dogg, Ronald Isley, Bilal, James Fauntleroy, Rapsody and Anna Wise, with production from Flying Lotus, Pharrell Williams, Boi-1da and more. "Hood Politics" samples Sufjan Stevens' "All For Myself" and "How Much A Dollar Cost" appears to be sampling Radiohead's "Pyramid Song." That's the artwork above.

You can browse our full NYC show calendar for all of tonight's shows, but here are some highlights...

Parquet Courts, Blues Control,PC Worship @ Webster Hall
Parquet Courts have had a busy year, releasing two very good albums, staying on tour pretty much constantly, and forming a noise project with members of PC Worship (who open tonight). They cap off the year tonight with their biggest hometown show yet, which is sold out.

Russian Circles, Mutoid Man @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
This is a killer double bill for fans of heavy music with post-rock crushers Russian Circles and the Converge/Cave In-related Mutoid Man, who have some of the elements of their main bands but trim all fat and just have a good time.

The Thurston Moore Band @ Marlin Room at Webster Hall
Thurston's current band has him backed by an excellent lineup that includes his former Sonic Youth bandmate Steve Shelley on drums and My Bloody Valentine's Deb Googe on bass, and their new album is his most Sonic Youth-sounding material since The Eternal.

Suckers, DOM, Future Punx, Cameron Hull, Mazed (DJ Set) @ Glasslands
Inactive for a while, Suckers are reforming to say goodbye to a venue they've played many times over the years: Glasslands, which closes at the end of the month. Also on the bill: DOM who reinvented themselves a while back (swapping guitars for synths), and neo-new-wave band Future Punx.

Pharmakon, Marshstepper, Puce Mary, Aischrolatreia Ligature, Penchant @ Saint Vitus
This is a great bill with the Destruction Unit-related Marshstepper whose live show includes blood, nudity and must be seen live if you want any real idea of what it's like. On top of that, there's Pharmakon (headlining) and Puce Mary, who both make eardrum-damaging PE/industrial/noise with wild vocals, and ex-The Men project Ligature.

Centro-Matic, Elephant Micah @ Rough Trade
Denton, TX's Centro-Matic have been together for nearly 20 years, mining a vein of psych somewhere between Crazy Horse and The Flaming Lips, having released 11 albums -- all pretty good -- including this year's rootsy Take Pride in Your Long Odds. All good things must (should?) come to an end, and Centro-matic announced that the band are going on indefinite hiatus...after this tour. These shows may be your last chance to see them in NYC.

Trey Anastasio Band @ Beacon Theatre
There's been no lack of Phish shows in NYC in the past year, and tonight their guitarist Trey Anastasio returns with the other band he leads for the first show in a two-night run. Both are sold out.

Scarface of the legendary Geto Boys (who are still active) returns to NYC for a show with Stalley on June 18 at BB King's. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Brooklyn hip hop vets Black Moon have been back in action lately (they played the Duck Down CMJ 2013 showcase), and they'll be joining fellow Brooklyn hip hop vets Smif-n-Wessun (who also played that showcase) for another show on April 16 at BB King's. Tickets for that show are on sale. Smif-N-Wessun are also on the upcoming Mobb Deep show.

The similarly named Black Milk is a bit newer than Black Moon, but stays true to that old school sound, and he'll be joining fellow throwback rappers Roc Marciano and Final Outlaw on April 17 at The Studio at Webster Hall. Tickets are available.

The Studio at Webster Hall hosts another hip hop show on April 24 with Das Racist's Kool A.D. along with Rebelmatic, Prop Anon, Sarcasmo, Sunny Gang and host Ricky Powell. Tickets are on sale.

Chicago rapper Fredo Santana, who made his NYC debut at Santos this past December, returns for a much larger show on May 14 at Highline Ballroom. Tickets to that show are on sale now.

Juelz Santana (who has collaborated with Fredo, but doesn't appear to be related though Fredo is related to Chief Keef) plays a NYC show on May 18 at Stage 48 with Trial and Era & A.L.I., Status and Don Dada. You can get tickets to that one.

Pharoahe Monch is releasing a new album, PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), on April 15 via W.A.R. Media/Duck Down, and he will celebrate with a release show the day it comes out at SOB's (4/15). Tickets for that show are on sale now. Stream "Bad MF" from the new album, below.

Smoke DZA just released a new album this week, titled Dream.Zone.Achieve (stream it on Rdio), and he also celebrates that with a release show at SOB's on May 7. Tickets are on sale. Listen to "Fhvt BVsturd" featuring Joey Bada$$ from the new album, below.

SOB's also hosts Bronx hip hop veteran KRS-One on April 20. Tickets for that one are on sale too.

There's also two good neo-soul shows coming up, including Bilal at Stage 48 on May 9 (tickets) and Jose James at Highline Ballroom on June 12 with Kris Bowers (tickets).

Also at Highline Ballroom is '90s era Queens trio Salt N Pepa on June 6 (tickets).

Two upcoming shows that aren't exactly in NYC but nearby: Big Sean teams up with his R&B collaborator Jhene Aiko for a Long Island show on April 25 at Tilles Center Concert Hall in Greenvale (tickets), and Tech N9ne & Krizz Kaliko team up with Freddie Gibbs (who just released an album and toured with Madlib) for a NJ show on April 26 at Starland Ballroom (tickets).

The night took on a lower-key tone when Sufjan Stevens performed, as he offered up a tender rendition of his song "Holland" while backed by Questlove and the Roots. Stevens, who made his own contribution to the seasonal canon with his 2006 five-EP box-set Songs for Christmas, then announced, "I'll do one more and it's got 'holly,' 'jolly' and 'Christmas' in it. It's a sing-along." He performed the sole seasonal staple of the night as he sang a genial version of "A Holly Jolly Christmas" while the Roots added a backing groove that included a chirpy keyboard riff.

It was the closing rap section of the show that resonated most with the crowd. Black Thought was first up, strutting around in his signature flat-cap during his performance of "The Next Movement." He then brought out Big Daddy Kane and the two of them ran through Kane's golden-era hits "Just Rhyming With Biz," "Set It Off" and "Ain't No Half Steppin'," with Black Thought acting as both amped-up hype man and savvy impromptu rap impersonator as he took on Biz Markie's role in the first song. [Rolling Stone]

The above review is from the Okayplayer Holiday Jam that happened at Brooklyn Bowl last week (12/9) with The Roots, host Hannibal Buress, and surprise guests that ended up being Sufjan Stevens, Reggie Watts, Raekwon, Big Daddy Kane, Bilal and others. Okayplayer has uploaded a video recap with clips of those artists, plus another video solely of Reggie Watts. You can watch both of those below.

In related news, Questlove was recently named TIME Magazine's coolest person of 2013. (It's from the same year-end issue that named Pope Francis "Person of the Year.") TIME writes:

Questlove, the drummer of the alt-hip-hop band the Roots, dropped bits of coolness everywhere this year. He wrote two cool books, Mo' Meta Blues--a smart postmodern memoir--and a coffee-table book chronicling Soul Train, the show so cool that my dad, in a failed attempt to prevent me from growing up to be a dork, forced me to watch it as a child. He composed the music for Comedy Central's very cool Inside Amy Schumer. His website, Okayplayer, which allows alternative musicians to create songs together online, made the dopest Christmas sweater ever. Every Thursday night, he deejays at a bowling alley in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. And since the Roots are Jimmy Fallon's house band, he's about to become the bandleader on The Tonight Show. He also deejayed at 13 weddings this year, including that of 2013 Coolest Person runner-up Pharrell Williams. We picked Questlove over Williams because there's no song titled "Last Night a Recently Married Guy Saved My Life."

Jazz/hip hop pianist Robert Glasper is set to release the followup to his excellent 2012 album, Black Radio with a sequel, Black Radio 2, on October 29 via Blue Note. Like its predecessor, the new album has an all-star cast of guests including Common, Marsha Ambrosius, Jill Scott, Brandy, Snoop Dogg, Lupe Fiasco, Emeli Sande, Norah Jones, Faith Evans, Bilal, Jean Grae, Macy Gray, and more. Its lead single is the track "Calls," which features the cooing neo-soul vocals of Jill Scott. That can be streamed, along with the album tracklist, below. That's the artwork above.

UPDATE: Robert released another single from the album, "I Stand Alone," which features Common and Patrick Stump. That can also be streamed (via Rolling Stone) below.

In celebration of the new album, Robert and two of its guests, Common and Marsha Ambrosius, will be doing some shows around the time of its release. One of those happens in NYC the day the record comes out at Best Buy Theater (10/29). Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (9/27) at noon.

Danny Brown's Old is one of the most anticipated rap albums of the year, and while holding your breath for a rap release is never a good idea (we've got our fingers crossed for that September 30 release date though), we're feeling one step closer to Old actually seeing the light of day, now that it's officially got album artwork. And pretty great artwork at that. That's it above (via Danny's instagram). It was designed by Sam Chirnside, and the painting is by Leila D'Amato. His newish video for "ODB" is below.

Meanwhile, the group Danny is a part of, Bruiser Brigade will be playing NYC without him (he'll be at Rock the Bells in California) on September 15 at Mercury Lounge. The Detroit crew will be joined by some hometown pals like producer Nick Speed (50 Cent, M.O.P., Talib Kweli) and rapper Dusty McFly, in addition to NYC producer Hillie Hill (Nas, Biggie) and A La $ole of Joey Bada$$'s Pro Era crew. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

There's some other good rap shows coming in NYC too, including afro-beat rapper Blitz the Ambassador, who is headlining The Studio at Webster Hall on September 19 with opening sets from Old Money, Boima, and Caktuz. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Eve, who's got a new album out this year, was supposed to play Irving Plaza back in August, but she'll instead play Gramercy Theatre on September 12. Opening the show is Dyme-A-Duzin (of Phony PPL) and Camille Safiya. Tickets are on sale now, and any tickets purchased for Irving Plaza are being honored.

Not exactly rap, but neo-soul singer Bilal, who released his solid new album A Love Surreal earlier this year, will play the New School Alumni Jazz Night at Highline Ballroom on September 18. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Stalley, who plays Rock the Bells NJ, and Gunplay play Gramercy Theatre on October 18 (which is during CMJ). Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (9/6) at noon.

Legendary hip hop duo Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, who played a Central Park show earlier this summer, play BB King's on November 13 with Camp Lo. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Yo Gotti just released his new mixtape, Nov 19th: The Mixtape, and he'll play NYC on November 19 at BB KIng's with Y.G., Ca$h Out, Shy Glizzy, and Zed Zilla. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

On the topic of anticipated rap albums, which we were talking about above, Drake also shed some more light on his new album, Nothing Was The Same, which is due out on September 24. He just revealed the tracklist which features previously released singles "Started From the Bottom" and "Hold On, We're Going Home," and "All Me" appears as a bonus track on the deluxe edition. The only guest rappers are Jay Z and Detail. Check out the full tracklist below, and that's the artwork above.

A$AP Rocky also just faced some legal charges. TMZ reports that due to an incident that occurred while he was performing at Jay Z's Made In America Festival, Rocky was charged with misdemeanor simple assault for allegedly slapping a woman in the crowd. TMZ writes, "The woman claims A$AP was trying to make his way through a crowd of dancing fans -- with a bunch of girls pulling on his shirt -- when A$AP turned and fired off an open-hand slap, connecting with her face. The woman claims she was injured from the alleged slap -- suffering whiplash from the impact." It's not the first time he was accused of something like this.

A$AP Rocky and Drake's third "Fuckin' Problems" partner, Kendrick Lamar, will be in NYC with his Black Hippy friends Ab-Soul and Jay Rock, plus young Brooklyn rapper Bishop Nehru, on September 10 at Williamsburg Park. Tickets for that show are still available.

Meanwhile, the man behind the hook on "Fuckin' Problems," 2 Chainz, will NOT be at Williamsburg Park, because despite being scheduled to play five days after Kendrick, he cancelled his show.

What other hip hop shows in NYC are you excited for? And when is Schoolboy Q's album coming out???

Philly neo-soul singer Bilal returned this year with his highly accessible and slightly psychedelic new album, A Love Surreal, which came out this past February. He celebrated it in NYC with a "nearly packed" release show at Highline Ballroom that month, and earlier this May he kicked off the album's world tour. That tour brings him back to NYC for a show at SOB's on June 9. Tickets for the SOB's show are on sale now. All dates are listed below.

Last week (5/14), Bilal performed with The Roots (who he's collaborated with before) on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, playing a cover of Steely Dan's "Black Cow." You can check out that video, the music video for A Love Surreal single "Back to Love," the tour trailer, and tour flyer, below...

Progressive pop cult The Polyphonic Spree have a bunch of festival dates scheduled for this spring/summer and they'll also be touring around those fests, playing a number of club dates throughout the US. Those dates include NYC shows happening on July 9 at Music Hall of WIlliamsburg and July 10 at Bowery Ballroom. Tickets for those shows go on sale Friday (5/3) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (5/1) at noon.

The Polyphonic Spree were also among the recent additions to this year's Bonnaroo lineup. Other additions include Solange, White Lung, Mac DeMarco, Black Prairie, Maps & Atlases, Royal Thunder, William Tyler, Cat Martino, On An On, Bilal and more. 4-Day passes for the festival are still available.

All Polyphonic Spree dates are listed, along with a full list of the Bonnaroo lineup additions and a video of the Polyphonic Spree covering Nirvana's "Lithium" at our BV-SXSW day party (one of our greatest moments at SXSW this year), below...

Amidst a snowy midtown backdrop, Carnegie Hall generated a little heat when the Michael Dorf-produced Prince Tributeopened last night (3/7). Stacked with performers giving props to the man in purple and paisley, the lineup featured some of the same names from the previous evening's "rehearsal" at City Winery, as well as surprise appearances from names like Chris Rock and more. Backed by The Roots with guitarist Wendy Melvion (of Prince's backing band The Revolution), D'Angelo show-closing numbers "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night" / "1999" were the clear highlights of the evening, with performances from Bilal (doing "Sister" and channeling Keith Sweat circa 1990s), Bettye LaVette ("Kiss"), Sandra Bernhard ('Little Red Corvette") and Fdeluxe ("High Fashion/Mutiny") also causing impromptu aisle dances. Fun night, and it was great to see people up and out of their seats, wilding out in a buttoned-up place like Carnegie Hall.

As mentioned, City Winery founder Michael Dorf is presenting a tribute to Prince at Carnegie Hall on March 7, his next in a long line of tribute shows he's done at the historic Manhattan venue. Since we last spoke, the lineup of great musicians that will be performing at the show has been expanded. It features Elvis Costello, The Waterboys, Talib Kweli, Booker T, DeVotchka, Bettye Lavette, Sandra Bernhard, Bilal, Blind Boys of Alabama, Bhi Bhiman, Amos Lee, Citizen Cope & Alice Smith, Maya Rudolph's Prince tribute group with Gretchen Lieberum, Princess, house band The Roots, and perhaps most excitingly, R&B singer D'Angelo (who we're still waiting on that new album from). Tickets are still available and proceeds will benefit underprivileged youth.

Meanwhile, Prince recently posted a lyric video for a new song, "Screwdriver," to his website and revealed another new track, "Chapter & Verse," which you can stream below. You can buy "Screwdriver" and a remix of that song, AND another new song that came out today called "Breakfast Can Wait" at a mysterious website called 3rd Eye Girl. According to Questlove, "#BreakfastCanWait is WOW." Check it out.

In other related news, Elvis Costello and The Roots, who are both on the lineup for the Prince tribute, are releasing a collaborative album this year according to an interview that Questlove did with Billboard. Questlove says of the album, "We had 13 or 14 songs, but then we said, 'Ooh! Wait a minute! Let's replace four of these songs with four better songs! And now we have the tightest 12-14 song collection out of about 20 songs that we made." No release date, title, or any other info has been revealed yet, but Questlove assures us, "I can just say that it is brilliant."

Jazz pianist/producer Robert Glasper released his fifth studio album, Black Radio, earlier this year on Blue Note Records. Recorded with his new band, Robert Glasper Experiment, it features an impressive array of guests, including Erykah Badu, Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def), Lupe Fiasco, Bilal, Musiq Soulchild, Chrisette Michele, and more.

In addition to a number of originals, the album includes some heavily re-arranged covers including Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," David Bowie's "Letter to Hermoine," Sade's "Cherish the Day," and Afro-Cuban standard "Afro Blue." The album effortlessly brings together jazz, hip hop, soul and R&B, more so than most others that attempt similar feats. Check out some videos from the album and a live video of the Robert Glasper Experiment playing John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" below, along with a spotify stream of Black Radio.

Fans of disposable income -- earning it, spending it, rapping about it, listening to someone rap about it -- had much to cheer about during this concert, the highest-profile hip-hop show ever at Carnegie Hall.

And there was also the matter of the income disposal, or in this case, donation: this concert was the first of a pair (the second is Tuesday night) benefitting the United Way of New York City and the Shawn Carter Scholarship Foundation, the charity founded by Jay-Z and whose president and chief executive is his mother, Gloria Carter. Most tickets cost several hundred dollars; on the resale market, some were listed for more than $1,000. [NY Times]

Jay was backed by an orchestra "conducted by Jeri Lynne Johnson (of the Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra), and also the Illadelphonics, an ensemble featuring Questlove of the Roots and the singer Bilal among others." Alicia Keys & Nas both both special guests. Beyonce was in the audience, but didn't perform.

Last night's show was the first of two. It happens again tonight (2/7). Yesterday the shows weren't sold out, but now it says "Limited Availability" for tonight's show at Carnegie Hall's site.

Some video clips and a pictures of the set list from last night (2/6), below...

I hope everyone will have a great 2012! Alot of things to look forward too. Especially when BlackStar will be getting out their album/Mixtape out and a new G.O.O.D music compilation album coming out spring. Let it be a Yasiin Bey year!

INDELIBLE FESTIVAL is dedicated to Gil Scott-Heron and Gordon Parks, with a tribute to Living Legend Jimmy Scott.

Indelible is dedicated to those who inspire and influence young people and, by their example, make a difference in the world. Jill Newman Productions created the Indelible Series two years ago, presented by the New York Public Library.

The great jazz vocalist Jimmy Scott will also be performing at the show, alongside ?uestlove, Bilal, Robert Glasper, Cecil Taylor, and many others. Tickets are still available.

South by Southwest isn't the only major music fest that goes down in March. Ultra Music Festival happens a few days later in Maimi, and the now-sold out, three-day party features a giant lineup of electro acts, many who hit NYC right before or after.

Los Angeles DJ and producer Daedelus will play a Brooklyn show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on April 2nd. Tickets are currently on AmEx presale, and go on regular sale Friday at noon (3/10). Daedelus is also playing SXSW and many other places as part of the 'Magical Properties 3 Tour'. The full list of his dates and openers is below.

Daedelus's new LP Bespoke is due in North America on April 26th via Ninja Tune Records and includes guest appearances by Baths, Busdriver and many others. RCRD LBL has the track with Bilal. Check out the tracklisting, some videos and all tour dates, below...

The Wizard of Oz is being re-released on DVD September 29th. Why should you care? Because that's also the same day a free outdoor event is happening in Central Park to celebrate it (it's also the film's 70th anniversary). At the show (whick kicks off at Rumsey Playfield at 7:30 p.m. ET), ?uestlove (of The Roots), Jennifer Hudson, Julianne Hough, Bilal, "and a band assembled especially for the show" will be performing contemporary interpretations of classic songs from the film. That will be followed by a screening of the flick on a giant inflatable screen (rain location TBA if it rains).

Of course, if you're only interested in the Roots, you can always shell out for the cover at their Highline Ballroom residency (though it should be noted, their Sept. 29th performance has been canceled). If you prefer to never leave Brooklyn, the band is also playing a Thursday, October 1st show at Brooklyn Bowl. It only costs $10. Tickets are on sale.

For the Central Park show, we have a pair of VIP passes (not on sale) and a prize package from Netflix to give away. Details are below...

"I won't lie....never had the chance to fully listen to 88-Keys, but when he came out and spit a few bars here and there...I was impressed..... From tricking fans by saying he was bringing out Yeezy (Kanye West to newly converted hip-hop heads) and instead coming out with his shirt open, black glove and lip-syncing to his lead single, 88 battled a handful of boos, a wad of paper thrown at his story-telling assistant which came out in-between tracks and poor microphone sound problems... On a side note, he did, however, bring out Bilal...)...

...Eminem [who got a taste of Bruno's butt at the MTV Movie Awards last night] told you to "take some Big and some 'Pac, mix 'em up in a pot, sprinkle a lil' Big L on top, now what the f*ck do you got," well, let me do you one slightly better. You take some hip and some hop, pour it all in a pot, surprise fans with Mos and Talib and fo' sure they gon' pop......' (laugh) Okay, maybe I'll stick to the re-cap and news covering....but when I tell you the place exploded with energy upon the arrival of Black Star's front men.... [SOHH]